Blogs

Perhaps you have heard of KFC's "Buckets for the Cure" campaign. The idea is, every time you buy a pink bucket of fried chicken from the chain, 50 cents is donated to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation for breast cancer research. Now, raising money for cancer research of any kind is great, but I can't help but think (and I am by no means alone here) that this campaign is misguided and misleading (not to mention the weird irony of buying – and eating – certain breasts to save others). Of course, tying an advertising campaign to the fight against breast cancer, a practice commonly known as pinkwashing, is nothing new. Let's look at some more examples and discuss!

Blogging Against Disablism Day ("disablism" is the UK equivalent of "ableism") was started by Diary of Goldfish in 2006 to occur annually on May 1st and highlight online how disability discrimination is lived, discussed, and portrayed. Here's a handful of some of the great posts that went up this weekend...

May Day is Saturday, the international worker's day. It's a holiday remembering the murder of protesters in Chicago in 1886 who were on strike for the 8 hour work day, but has grown to be a day for calling out against systems of oppression, and particularly war and capitalism.

It's celebrated almost everywhere around the world, although notably not here in the United States where the murders took place.

May Day is also an important pagan holiday (more widely known as Beltane).

I am a major fangirl for Linda Ronstadt for many reasons. Great music? Check. Awesome style that I try to copy? Check. Songs available at Karaoke bars? Check. Political activist, feminist, and defender of civil liberties? Check and check.

Freedom and pretty hair for all!

To back me up on that last point, the Christian Science Monitor has this story to share today: "Linda Ronstadt joins group filing suit against Arizona law." Awww yeah. That's right, Ronstadt (and others, but I'm a fangirl, remember?) is suing Arizona for their new bullshit immigration law. She is so awesome. For more ass kicking, read on to see Ronstadt take on Robin Quivers in the name of Mexican-American women!

As a corollary to Wednesday's discussion of role models, I thought this was a fine time to advance my theory that there are precious few opportunities to make your digital bones as a female blogger. If you aren't willing to open an emotional vein or cannibalize your life for blog material, and if you can't leverage an offline profile a la Ariana Huffington or Michelle Malkin, good luck building a reputation as an expert and/or a readership outside of the niche. You can mine your personal life for story gold, you can focus your attention on issues traditionally associated (for better or worse) with women (feminism, fashion, celebrity news) or you can be famous offline first. Those seem to be the sum total of your choices. Or you can pretend to be a man, I suppose.

It's the latest episode of Bitchcast! Taking cues from Issue 46, the podcast includes an interview with a feminist blogger who's wise but not old, an interview with members of the Meerkat Media Collective about their recent documentary where generations collide, an excerpt from the Old issue of Bitch, and a chat with one of the 90s biggest stars. Plus tunes from the Swedish melodic pop band JJ. Stream it below, download the epsiode here, or subscribe via iTunes or RSS.